Air Traffic Services ‘very sorry’ staff off sick ‘will impact’ flights from Gatwick Airport - promising ‘resilience’ by summer 2024

Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has said it is “very sorry” that staff being off ill “will have an almost immediate impact” on flights from a major UK airport.

The company said it has been “very clear that we inherited a staff shortage when we took over the contract last autumn” and it is “working to return the team to full strength”.

Due to short notice staff sickness at the tower at Gatwick Airport today (Monday 25 September), Nats has had to reduce the rate of arrivals and departures from the airport.

Several flights have been delayed with passengers taking to social media to share their annoyance.

Matt Catlin slammed Gatwick Airport on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, calling it a “f*****g embarrassment” over its delays to a number of flights.

He said the airport is “using the excuse of staff shortages so they can get out of paying compensation”.

Nats has apologised for the disruption caused to passengers and airlines, adding that when the company was appointed by Gatwick to improve its ATC performance and resilience “all parties were clear it would not be a short-term fix”.

A spokesperson from Nats told NationalWorld: “We cannot simply move controllers from other locations - they need to be trained specifically for the Gatwick airport operation and this takes time - up to two years to be certified to safely control aircraft at the world’s busiest single runway airport.”

The company said that despite the recent disruption “resilience has improved significantly this year since NATS took over the air traffic control contract at the airport.”